


Out in the Black

by ami_ven



Series: NCIS/Firefly [2]
Category: Firefly, NCIS
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Gen, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22985518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: After the war, former Browncoat Gibbs assembles a crew.
Series: NCIS/Firefly [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1651879
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Out in the Black

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a request by LJ user "scarlet_gryphon" and originally posted in 2011

The end of the war had left Jethro Gibbs without a career and without a home. And since his former second-in-command, Jenny, had left him on Persephone, he was down a partner, as well. All he had left were the rifle that had earned him a reputation as the best marksman in the 'verse and an ex-army doctor who went by the name of "Ducky" Mallard.

They took jobs where they could get them— Gibbs was hired as much for his woodworking skills as he was for being a sharpshooter, and a doctor could always find work, especially away from the Core.

It might have stayed just the two of them, if Gibbs's gut hadn't led them to intervene in the case of a recently-unemployed security officer and an out-of-favor Companion who'd run afoul of the local law enforcement. Kate Todd's security training would come in handy if they took bigger jobs, and even a Companion like Tony DiNozzo would give them enough respectability to arrange more lucrative ones.

All they needed now was a ship.

What they found first was a mechanic. Abby Sciuto was, despite the pigtails and pleated skirt, a year older than Tony, and didn't actually need their help in dealing with her (now ex-) boyfriend. Still, she wanted to leave Whitefall, and the rest of them didn't know much about ships.

A few jobs later, Abby found them a _Firefly_ — and a pilot. Nobody would ever have suspected Tim McGee of being less than law-abiding, but his sense of right and wrong matched Gibbs's, not the Alliance's, and he was a fair shot with a gun, as well. Two jobs after that, they met a young medic named Jimmy Palmer, who was also a fair pilot, and very briefly, things were looking up.

Unfortunately, trouble found them, in the form of an Alliance agent who dogged their steps through twelve different planets. They didn't even have time to change their ship's registry from ' _Firefly_ 97531' before Ari caught up with them. In a few heartbeats, it was over, Kate with a bullet in her brain and Ari with one in the heart, courtesy of a new player.

Ziva David wasn't Alliance, but she hadn't been a Browncoat, either. And Ari had been her half-brother. 

"Jenny sent me," she said, in the sudden silence of the landing pad. "I did... I did not know Ari had become this."

Gibbs rested a hand on her shoulder, and squeezed gently.

"I do not look forward to explaining this," she continued.

"Could come with us," he offered, and her face lit up with a small but genuine smile.

"I will not let you down, Gibbs."

He nodded, squeezed her shoulder again, then turned back up the ship's ramp. "McGee!" he hollered.

The pilot appeared on the catwalk. "Yeah, boss?"

"Find that registry thing on the Cortex. Tell 'em we've got a name."

"Right, boss," McGee agreed. "What name?"

Gibbs looked around at his crew, assembled around the hold. " _Kate_."

THE END


End file.
